The above is a photo of the church of San Carlos in San Carlos, a community of Reitoca. It is a one-and-a-half-hour drive from the pueblo of Reitoca. San Carlos is a poor community, as are all the communities of our parish, but the people are rich in faith.
I first encountered this community in April of 2019, when I was living in Honduras as a missionary priest for about nine months. The people there gave me a very warm welcome, especially one of their Delegadas de la Palabra, Enma Avila Ramírez. The people told me that they had not had a Mass in their church for almost a full year. Needless to say, they were very happy to celebrate Mass once again.
In addition to their church, the people also have their own cemetery on the property.
When I finally was able to move into my new house on the Holy Cross campus in Reitoca, some of the people who know the area told me to look across the valley, from my deck, to the lights shining on the eastern mountains. They told me that those lights were those of San Carlos. So, every evening as the sun goes down, I look out from my deck to see the lights of San Carlos and send a special prayer their way.